JetBlue: Flight attendant’s big exit was for good

NEW YORK (AP) — Sometimes there’s no going back.

JetBlue Airways says there will be no second exits for famed flight attendant Steven Slater, who captured the nation’s imagination with his profanity-laced loudspeaker tirade and jump down a plane’s emergency chute, beer in hand.

Spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said Saturday that Mr. Slater no longer is employed by the airline, which won’t release further details out of respect for Mr. Slater’s privacy.

But Mr. Slater’s attorney, Daniel J. Horwitz, said Sunday that Mr. Slater resigned from the airline on Wednesday. He also said some details are still being worked out with JetBlue but would not go into specifics.

Mr. Horwitz earlier had said Mr. Slater loved flying and wanted to return to work, and Mr. Slater’s folk-hero status among tens of thousands of online fans led some of them to urge the airline to keep him on.

The airline said at the time of the incident on Aug. 9 that Mr. Slater had been suspended pending an investigation. It told employees in a memo that press coverage was not taking into account how much harm can be caused by emergency slides, which are deployed with a potentially deadly amount of force.

The former flight attendant still has to navigate the criminal justice system. He has been charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing; his lawyer has said a passenger’s “lack of civility” prompted his behavior.

Despite Mr. Slater’s online popularity, some passengers came forward to criticize him as brusque and cranky throughout the 90-minute trip from Pittsburgh to New York. One passenger portrayed Mr. Slater as the instigator, saying he cursed without provocation at a woman who had asked about her bag.

His employment status first was reported by the NBC New York website.

Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

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